


Affirmative

by megastarstrike



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Based on a True Story, Budding Love, F/M, Fluff, ampersands are partnerships, debate team au, pre-round
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 21:37:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13085856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megastarstrike/pseuds/megastarstrike
Summary: Wasting your Saturday at a debate tournament that was running two hours late as a high school student was probably the worst thing that ever happened to Maki’s social life, but she didn’t mind that. No, what she truly cared about was having to climb up four flights of stairs in heels, only to be told that your room was moved two floors down. What absolutely enraged her was the fact that the people in the room before her only just started their round, which usually lasted around fifty minutes at best.And by the looks of it, her partner had fallen head over heels in love with their opponent.Wonderful.





	Affirmative

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is centered on public forum debate, which has some funky jargon. here's the definitions of some of the words used:
> 
> Evidence Packet/Constructive - a pre-written document explaining your case  
> Flight - basically one full debate. One round will typically have 2 flights  
> First speaker - the person who reads the evidence packet/constructive and the summary, the 1st and 3rd speeches in the debate respectively not including crossfires  
> Second speaker - the person who makes the rebuttal and final focus, the 2nd and 4th speech in the debate respectively not including crossfires  
> First Crossfire - the first speakers question each other for three minutes  
> Postings - assignment of opponents. they usually include school name and last names (in my experience)

Wasting your Saturday at a debate tournament that was running two hours late as a high school student was probably the worst thing that ever happened to Maki’s social life, but she didn’t care about that. No, what she truly minded was having to climb up four flights of stairs in heels, only to be told that her room was moved two floors down. What absolutely enraged her was the fact that the people in the room before her only just started their round, which usually lasted around fifty minutes at best.

Her partner, Kaede, patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Maki, we already knew it was running a bit late.”

“It’s really not,” Maki mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. It was only the second round, and she wanted to die already.

Upon surveying the hallway, it was clear that she wasn’t the only one who shared that sentiment. People sat in groups of two by each doorway, complaining to each other as their partners desperately searched for an outlet. One pair of students, a boy with green hair and piercings and the other girl wearing a pink dress and black fingerless gloves, murmured to each other as one of them typed furiously on a laptop. One girl, a student with choppy, purple hair, tripped over a cable and started to cry. A girl wearing an orange kimono with two blonde pigtails pointed at her and started to yell, causing her to cry even more.

Jesus fuck.

Maki looked away from the scene, only to see her partner standing still with her eyes glazed over. “... Kaede?”

Kaede jumped and scrambled to reorganize herself. She gave Maki a tired smile. “Yeah?”

“What were you looking at?”

“Uh… promise not to kill me?”

“No promises.”

Kaede blushed and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “That boy with green hair is kind of cute.”

Maki gave her a deadpan stare. “Kaede, you’re my best friend, but you’re also the stupidest person I’ve ever met.”

“I know, I know. On the bright side, I think I see some people from our school,” Kaede said, waving down the hall. “Hey! Kokichi, Kaito, how was your round?”

“Aw, man, we totally lost,” Kokichi said, hanging his head. He looked back up with a grin on his face and wrapped his arms around Kaito’s middle. “Just kidding! We won that by a landslide.”

“Get off me,” Kaito grunted, though he made no movement to push him off. He looked around. “Has your round not started yet?”

“The first flight just started, and we’re second flight,” Kaede said, sending a side-eye to the room they were supposed to be in. “But hey, let me tell you guys something.”

Kokichi’s eyes sparkled. “Wow, are you trusting us with a secret?”

“Not really a secret, but…” Kaede leaned in and whispered before taking a step back, a blush dusting her cheeks.

Both of them groaned, slamming their palms against their foreheads.

“That’s exactly what I said,” Maki mumbled. Her gaze settled on the duo that Kaede had been staring at. “Hey, are you guys in room C220?”

“What’s it to you, bitch face?” the blonde one growled, pointing her thumb down.

“Behave, Miu. And yes, we’re in room C220. Are you our opponents?” her partner said, his eyes glued to the screen of his laptop.

“Yes, that would be us,” Kaede said.

“Then I guess we should introduce ourselves.” Finally, he looked up and shot them a radiant smile. “I’m Rantarou Amami, and this is my partner, Miu Iruma. I promise we’re not bad guys.”

Maki’s eye twitched upon seeing her partner’s face light up.

“You actually give me second-hand embarrassment whenever you say that to people,” Miu snorted before turning to them. Her eyes popped open once they landed on the other duo. “Wait, wait, wait a fucking second. Aren’t you guys the fuckers from our first round?”

Kokichi snickered and folded his hands behind his head. “Yup! That would be us.”

Maki rolled her eyes. _Great. What did the demon do now?_   Despite common sense telling her otherwise, she tuned into their conversation.

Miu shot up with a scowl. “I can’t fucking believe you won that round when you literally said that the people don’t matter!”

“Hey, it wasn’t even me who said that, it was my dumbass partner. I just covered for him with the Princeton Study,” Kokichi said, raising a finger.

Kaito whipped around to him. “Okay, listen, doing the first crossfire when your partner won’t stop kicking your feet is harder than it looks.”

“Like I said, dumbass partner.” Kokichi’s gaze darted between Rantarou and Kaede, ignoring Kaito’s screeches of disagreement. “Hey, why don’t we try to guess each other’s names? I know our last names are on the schedule sheet, but we never actually got each other’s first names, you know. Let’s start with my beloved partner first.”

Immediately, Miu said, “You look like a Richard.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” Kaito asked, pounding his fists together. “I’m the luminary of the stars! Children will be crying my name when I’m done with this world!”

“It’s Kaito, right?” Rantarou guessed.

Kaito’s brash demeanor was immediately replaced with a defeated sigh. “Damn, how’d you know?”

He gestured towards Kaede. “She yelled it out loud just a few minutes ago. Your partner is Kokichi.”

Kokichi pouted at being exposed so early in his game but tilted his head towards Maki and Kaede. “So try guessing their names, starting with the grumpy one.”

Maki sighed, unable to refute his statement.

“Let me give you a hint. Her name is spring rolls,” Kaito said, chuckling at his own joke and ignoring the side glare Maki gave him.

Miu grabbed the crumpled posting sheet next to her. “Let’s see. If her last name is Shittykawa… Then it’s Maki. Harumaki. You’re not creative, space fuckboy.”

“Well, I don’t see you doing any better.”

“Is that a fucking challenge?”

“Nooo,” Kokichi whined, moving in between them. “We have to finish the game. What about the happy one?”

“Do I _look_ happy?” Kaede asked, rubbing the bags under her eyes. Despite that, she still smiled. “It begins with a K, if that helps.”

Rantarou now seemed much more focused in the game. “Karen?”

“Nope.”

“Kelly?”

“No.”

“Kanayo?”

“Try again.”

The guessing game continued for a few more minutes before Kaede decided to give them another hint.

“My name means maple tree.”

“Oh!” Rantarou snapped and smiled victoriously. “Kaede! A beautiful name for a beautiful person.”

“That’s right, my name’s Kaede Akamatsu,” she said, beaming at his words. “And my partner is Maki Harukawa. It’s nice to meet you all.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Rantarou said. He fell silent and stared at her intently.

Kaede fidgeted under his intense stare.

“Are you the first speaker?”

“No, I’m actually the second speaker.” Kaede giggled upon seeing Rantarou slam the back of his head against the wall.

“He’s been trying to guess who’s which speaker all morning,” Miu explained, cackling. “Idiot hasn’t gotten a single one correct.”

Rantarou straightened his back and turned to glare at her. “Can you blame me? Would you expect the guy running down the hallway dabbing to be the second speaker? I actually thought he was a humorous interp kid at first.”

Kokichi snickered and pointed at himself. Kaito suppressed Kokichi’s laughter by smacking him on the shoulder.

Kaede took a closer look at them before pointing at Rantarou. “Are you the first speaker?”

Miu’s cackling grew louder as Rantarou blinked in surprise. “See? This flat-chested bitch has skills, unlike your stupid ass.”

“People usually say that Miu would be a good first speaker and I would be the better second speaker, but…” Rantarou’s gaze shifted to his partner. “There’s no way I would ever let her read our evidence packet or have the first crossfire. It would just get too aggressive.”

“Fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I think my point is proven.”

The two continued squabbling, exchanging light insults.

Kaede stared with a smile growing on her face. She leaned over to Maki and whispered, “Isn’t he cute when he argues?”

“If this affects your ability to debate, then I’m dumping you as a partner.”

“It won’t, don’t worry.”

“Hey, hey,” Kokichi interrupted, walking towards them with his phone out. “Like my recent on insta. Follow me on snapchat, too.”

“Damn, how thirsty for followers are you? You’re acting like some kinda virgin thirsty for a cock-sucking.” Despite her words, Miu pulled her phone out and scanned his snapcode.

Rantarou did the same as Kaito pulled his phone out, too.

Kaede hesitated before holding her own phone out. “Oh, you should probably add me, too. But I made my username in sixth grade, so it’s a little embarrassing.”

“Seeing as how Miu’s username is GreatGirlGenius, you can’t get any worse than that,” Rantarou mused, ignoring the hiss of disapproval from his partner. He scanned her code and tapped his screen. “There, I added you. Do I need to add anyone else?”

“No, no,” Maki said, crossing her arms. She wasn’t about to add her opponent on social media, no matter how much her partner liked them.

Rantarou shrugged her off and smiled at Kaede’s story. “You play piano? My sister’s just beginning to learn it. What’s it like?”

Kaede’s face brightened as she explained her piano experience.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maki could see Kokichi dragging Kaito to the staircase by his sleeve. The two bickered as Kaito pulled up a map of the school on his phone, preparing to attempt (and probably fail) to navigate through the giant school.  
  
Just as they walked past Kaede, she whispered, “Thanks, guys.”

They shot her a thumbs up before disappearing down the stairs.

Wait… they were winging for her?

Maki’s eyes darted from Kaede to the staircase and back to Kaede again before finally resting on the laptop in her arms.

It didn’t matter how annoying she thought they were or how dysfunctional their partnership was.

Her gaze refocused on the scene of Kaede and Rantarou laughing together.

Maki had to admit that Kaito and Kokichi were some damn good wingmen.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, this was based on a true story from November debates. The moment was too good to pass up so I wrote a fic of it hoping that no one in real life finds this and has enough clues to figure out I wrote it. Here's hoping. If anyone wants more details, feel free to ask.


End file.
